I! Cleaner!

"Leon! You're in trouble!"

The female officer, who had developed even darker circles under her eyes, slammed the tray on the table with a loud clang, then sat down heavily across from Leon, whispering with annoyance in her eyes,

"I already know, you were the one who attacked the Boarding Tower!"

"..."

"Oh."

After a few seconds of silence, Leon speared half a piece of meat pudding with a fork and placed it on the female officer's plate, then poured half of his soup into her bowl.

"Sorry for causing you trouble."

"..."

And then what? That's it?

After waiting for a while without hearing more, the female officer, gritting her teeth in anger, couldn't help but snap,

"Is that all? You have nothing else to say to me?"

"..."

"Um... today's pudding is made with eye fillet, it has an excellent texture, and it's topped with Aunt Diana's special sauce. I was worried you wouldn't have time to eat because of overworking, so I got two extra pieces..."

"Don't play dumb! That's not what I'm asking about!"

Stabbing the meat pudding fiercely with a fork, the female officer leaned forward and said with a malicious tone,

"Spit it out! What's really going on? Or I'm going to arrest you right now!

"Also... damn it! Why are you still wearing that old coat? Just because you wear the same clothes as the suspect, I've received several reports! Can't you get a new one?"

Huh?

Leon was taken aback, somewhat puzzled, and asked in return,

"These clothes are fine, they're durable, dirt-resistant, and warm. To buy a new coat like it would cost more than a Silver Wheel. Plus, I saw on my way to work that out of ten people on the street, three or four were dressed like me. Why would anyone report me because of that?"

"There may be many wearing it on the street, but there aren't many in the police department, which makes it stand out... In any case, find the time to change your clothes. If someone reports you again, I'm not covering for you!"

After fiercely mashing the pudding into the rice, the female officer took a spoonful and ate it. As the savory meat juices spread in her mouth, her tense expression finally relaxed, and she nodded slightly,

"The taste is indeed quite good... What's really going on with the Boarding Tower? Spill it!"

*Even eating can't shut you up... hmm... Such a big deal, it would be odd if it did.*

Shaking his head slightly, Leon organized his words briefly, and with a serious face, he explained,

"Simply put, there was something very dangerous over there. If it wasn't dealt with, it would have caused big trouble, so I had to go."

"..."

"..."

"That's all?"

"That's all."

"..."

"To be honest, it's not that I don't want to tell you, but the fewer people who know about this, the better."

After taking a sip of soup, Leon spread his hands helplessly and said,

"You know, although both of us are with the Police Department and work in 'maintaining public order,' our work content is completely different from ordinary police work. I can tell you this much only because of our relationship.

"Think about it, if you secret police received an assignment and discovered the Minister of Finance was colluding with enemy forces, betraying the Kingdom by selling intelligence, and got arrested under the cover of night... if it were you, would you go around blabbing about it?"

"..."

Well, fie on that!

Nodding in agreement, the female officer, once she realized, complained with some frustration,

"Okay, maybe you can't talk about the mission, but you got to just leave after doing your job, while I'm stuck here overworking like crazy!

"Except for the day when the city patrol returned, and I got to sleep soundly, this past week, I've only been getting four to five hours of sleep each day! Do you know how exhausting that is?"

"Yes, yes, you worked hard, really hard."

Forking a piece of salmon from the female officer's tray and popping it into his mouth, Leon looked at her heavily shadowed eyes with genuine remorse and couldn't help but suggest again,

"Seriously, if you're that tired, just take a nap in my office... After all, as you know by now, this is a case destined to have no resolution; there's no need to keep going at it."

"No way!"

The female officer snapped irritably after fiercely chewing a piece of fried chicken,

"Our Secret Investigation Bureau isn't as easygoing as yours. We have plenty of cases to handle! We may not be able to continue investigating the Boarding Tower incident, but there are other cases.

"Once I'm done eating, I'm going to apply to transfer to another task force... By the way, do you know about the recent drowning of the Marquis? If I transfer, I should take over that case."

???

What the... Why do you always take on this kind of work?

"What's wrong?"

After waiting for a while without Leon responding, the female officer looked up from her soup, instinctively flicking her pink Tongue tip to wipe away the grease from her lips, and then said with surprise in her eyes,

"Why are you silent again?"

"..."

*Because I figured you'd end up overworking again, and certainly wouldn't find anything. As your friend who caused your overworking madness, I felt a bit guilty...*

"Nothing..."

Giving the female officer a sympathetic look, Leon sighed and said,

"Good luck with that."

"I'm definitely going to succeed!"

After wrinkling her nose, the female officer huffed and replied,

"I'm an elite field officer in the Secret Investigation Bureau! If it weren't for concerns about being accused of advancing too fast, with my achievements over the years, I could have already become a field inspector, perhaps even vying for the next director of the Bureau.

"As long as it's not one of your 'messed up' cases, anything that comes my way can be solved. Regarding the Marquis's case, although I haven't seen the files yet, I noticed several suspicious points from newspapers and am confident of cracking it!"

"Yes, yes, I believe in you, you'll do just fine... um... I've finished my meal, so I'll head off then!"

After awkwardly clearing his throat twice, Leon quickly finished the remaining food on his tray, then, driven by inner guilt, hurriedly left the Police Department canteen and returned to the Purification Bureau, intending to talk to the director about the female journalist issue.

However, when Leon pushed open the door to the Purification Bureau, crossing the somewhat dim hallway, and was about to knock on the director's door, the door opened on its own first, and two somewhat familiar figures appeared before Leon.

"Mr. Lyon, it's been a while."

Extending a friendly hand to Leon, the naturally smiling senior investigator smiled gently and said,

"You've probably heard about the Marquis, right? He was under the protection of the central bureau's Word Spirit, so as usual, we need to find related personnel and ask some basic questions. We hope we haven't disturbed your work."